Gustavus weissenborn



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glatten 'gisten ateut @ffice GUSTAV US WEISSENBORN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y,Letters' Patent/N0. 72,573, dated December 24, 1867 antcdated December11, 1867.

IMPROVED MACHINE FOB. MAKING PSAT FUEL.- l

fitte ttettte tetettet te it tlgete tettet ttett mit meting' niet tt ttestmt.

fro ALL wHoM 1T. MAY conocen:

Be it known that I, GUsTAvUs WEIssENnonN, of the city of New York, inthe county ot New York, and inA the State of New York, have inventedcertain `new and useful Improvements for the Purpose ef Pressing Dry undWet Peat; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exactdescription thereof.

I will first give a general and then a detailed description of what Iconsider the best means of carrying out my invention, and willafterwards designate the points which I believe to be new.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification.

Figure l'is a perpendicular longitudinal section of my machine.

Figure 2 is a top view.

Figure 3, a front elevation.

Figure 4, a top view of the cross-head.

Figure 5, a front view, and

Figure 6 a side view of the same.

Figure 7,'a perpendicular section of an addition to thepressing-cylinder, with turned grooves and holes in it.

Similar letters of reference indicate the corresponding parts in. allthe figures. Names arc employed merely to aid in distinguishing parts.

The material is indicated thus:` Indigo, for cast iron; Prussian blue,for wrought iron and cast steel; gamboge, for brass; red, for copper;brown, for peat.

The object of my invention'is for pressing dry and wet puiverized peat,the former to be compressed with greater facility and less wearing tosuch parts of the machine as are exposed to the-heavy.pressure forsolidifying the dry peatdust,.and, with regard to wet peat, to have itworked in such a manner that, when wet pulver# ized peat enters thepressing-cylinder, it will .be perfectly dry' after it has passedthrough the press.

Plan A illustrates acomplete machine for pressing dry peat, and, withsome changes, will answer for wet peat, only a different mode ofoperation must be observed. I have observed, on peat-presslng machines,that perfectly dry peat-dust has been the cause ,of breaking theheaviest machinery, especially when the peat was of a lrst quality,containing a great quantity of oily matter. With a percentage of waterfrom fifteen to twenty per cent., the compressed peat had not the samecompactness and solid appearance as -if pressed from perfectly drypeat-dust. In order to manufacture iirst quality of peat-blocks, I haveconstructed a machine which will produce a peat-block almost equal tothe solidity of anthracite coal.

Now, to accomplish this, I have arranged such mechanical devices as willbe seen in Plan A, iig. 1, consisting of a cast or wrought-iron casingor box, A10 Aw A A, which is kept under a full o r partial vacuum bymeans of a pump connected with the suctionfpipes A, while the drypeat-dust passes. from its upper vesselv throughv the lower, and intothe pressing-box. The air in the peat-dust, when exposed to a heavypressure, has produced such an intense heat as to be vory injurious tothe linings of the pressing-box, so that it required very frequentrepairing or renewal of the same. The excessive .heatof .the vapors ofacids, contained in the peat-d1 1st, had also a very had effect upon theiron or steel, and break-downs of the machine have been very frequent.These lacid vapors were eating up the inside surfaces of the polishedlinings; consequently, caused greater resistance to the pressing of thecompressed peat-blocks than was otherwise required. New, in pressing drypeat-dust under a vacuum, only a moderate degree'of heat will beproduced, just suiicient to soften the oily matter con-l` tained in thepeat, in order to unite the particles of peat into a solid block, whichdcvelopes only about half the resistance, and requires but half thepower to make the-peat-blocks lof equal compaotness or solidity, as if'pressed intermixed with air. It is preferable to have two reservoirs, A,instead of one, on the top of 'the feeding and vacuum-chambers A A, inorder that while one is kept under a full or partial vacuum, andshutoff, by mechanical devices, from the access of air, the other canbefilled with peat-dust. While the peat-dust is confined to a full orpartial vacuum, the pipe A16 is connected with a vessel about half fullof oil, containing not more than one or two gallons of oil. I do not useheatto evaporate the oil in the box or v esse1,but1et the .I particlesof oil rise slowly into the vacuum, for the-purpose of greasing thesurfaces of the peat-blocks, whichv come into immediate contact with thelinings of the pressing-cylinder orbox.

Oil vapors have been found, in practice, to have the same bad efect, toprevent the uniting ofthe particles of peat together, as water vapors;it discharged the compressed blocks in such an imperfect state, thatthey could easily be broken into pieces by hand, and would notbesuitable for transportation, while, without it, the peat-blocks becameso solid that they c ould be thrown upon stoneswithout breaking topieces.

My arrangement, of connecting the pipe A1 Aw with an oil-chamber, maynot beA required in all cases.' Its application depends on the manner inwhich the peat has been'dried. VAirdried`peat on the field contains agreater quantity of oily substances and vegetable acids,and will be avery good fuel forsteam-b'oile'r and other furnaces, but may not answerto be burned in private dwelling-houses, owing to the had smell, whichis caused by the vegetable acids.

In a peat-manufacturing establishment different qualities of fuel ,mustbe manufactured, to answer the wants of the public. For instance, mymethod or process, patented October 16, 1866, in forcing superheatedsteam or heated air through the wet pulverized peat, removes all the badsmell, and makes a very superior quality of fuel for domestic uses, freeof prejudice as to badsmell. It belongs to another department to say anymore on' drying;4 I therefore drop that subject, and continue with mygeneral description for compressing dry peat.

V V V V, to the extreme right and left of the pressing-cylinders A5 A5,are steam-chambers, allowing the oil or water vapors to escape, throughthe holeslto 11, into the same, which collect in the peat-blocks, fromthe i heat 'produced bythe heavy pressure, and come then again intocontact with the exterior of the peat-blocks,

through the holes, forthe purpose of greasing the same. .Other vapors,4of oil or water, may'iiilso be admittedA through the pipes Agg-for thesame purpose of'saving friction and wearing tothe linings. .To preventobstruction to the vholesrl tb 11, by blocking up, it is necessary tomake them wider on the outside, and have them gradually tapered to theinside. i

The eccentric, Cl, has a solid loose ring on the outside of theeccentric, made of one or two piecespfor the purpose of preserving theeccentric and cross-head'from wearingor cutting eachother. It has alsothe advantage of saving friction, as the ring rolls or moves on theeccentric, and -remains stationary on the cross-head when a heavypressure is put upon it. i Y

The eccentric, C-, through its direct connections with a steam-engine,revolves either to the right or left,v and causes the reciprocatingvmotion of the cross-heads Cf C4 and plungers D6 D6 through the fourconnections C Cu C C, and produces, at each stroke, a peat-block, Il P1,to the right and left, and moves the whole mass of blocks in thecylinder each time one block further, until they reach the end of' thepressing-cylinder, for discharge, and are then conducted, on a. suitablewooden table, to a convenient place for storage. Sullcient A resistanceis offered by the blocks pressing against the sides of thecylinders'direct, or against the linings of the .pressing-cylinders. Theresistance te the pressing-plungers can also be regulated by thesurrounding chambers V V V V, in permitting more vapors to enter orescape from the chamber.

Another useful and valuable arrangement is my feeding-device, consistingof steam-cylinder, D, placed.

on the top of the cross-heads C* C4, operating, through the medium of apiston and pressure of'steam, in com bination with a rod and the guidesD5, with the hollow plungers D, or, if made solid, with the plungers C,to give a few strokes to the hollow or solid plungers while theeccentric Cl'makes one revolution. If I arrange a solid plunger, then Ihave the part G1?, to move backwards and forwards in the'cross-head C*C.

Some other mechanical device may valso be arranged, consisting in thecombination of levers, operated by u. cam or eccentric, placed on themain shaft, or working an eccentric through intermediate gearings, forgiving one, two, three, or more strokes, while the eccentric makes onerevolution. In operating my machine without an arrangement of this kind,only smaller blocks will be pressed, which will reduce the production ofa machine to about half the'weight, which will be'felt very considerablyin the cost of production. The same motion may also -be'applied to thepressing-cylinders. One, two, three, or more strokes may be given to thesame while one revolution is. made by the eccentric C1. Of the'samearrangement a caveat has been filed by me, July 5, 1866.4 -Thisconcludes now my general observations on my process for pressing drypeat successfully. Now, for pressing wet peat. Thesame machine willanswer, with the exception of Vthe pressing-cylinders or boxes, whichrequire a perforated cylinder all the length through; mere so, when thefirst pressure `is given to the peat, than on the discharge-end. Novacuum is required in the chambers Au Au. An air-pump is new connectedto the motion-pipes A8 A8 ASA?, to draw the water which collects in theblocks into the vacuumchambers V V V. I use not only a vacuum,in'drawing out the water, but the resistangerof the peat-blocks,pressing against each other, greatly facilitates inV expelling thelwaterfrom them. The vacuum-chambers may be made of any length, or additionalboxes may be bolted to the o ne represented in drawing, marked A5 A, to

be from one to five. or more feet long, or ofany suitable length 'whichwill accomplish a satisfactory result, in

receiving dry peat-blocks at the discharge when wet pulvcrized peat ischarged or enters the press. It may be, in practice, that I use theupper chamber for the admission of hot air, and the lower chamber as asuction or vacuum-chambcr, or vice versa, to obtain a better result.

It is self-evident that this is a cheaper method than pressing drypeat-dust. The machines can be built simpler in construction than fordry'peat-dust, but, as I have mentioned before, the dry peat-dustoperation may he preferable for certain qualities of fuel used fordomestic purposes.

The cost of drying wet pulverized peat has been a very expensiveoperation; it must, therefore, beef the greatest importance forpeat-manufacturers to get the peat dry while standing under pressurewithout any detention to the operation of the machine. In otherlanguage, wet pcat-dust is charged or enters Lhc press,`

and is discharged perfectly dry for use.

Plan A. represents a horizontal machine for compressing peat-dust, dryor wet. The sume may be set upright, with the eccentric above, and maybe made single-acting instead of double-acting. The latter plan may bepreferable, as being of greater strength anddurability. rlherc was oneobjection to the horizontal sysA v zam tem, not supplying thepressing-cylinderup to its fullest capacity, which,.however, is nowremoved with my new improvements, consisting of the fcedingdevice. A IVmay also build my horizontal machines single-acting.. I will newproceed to give a dotailcd` description of my peat-pressing machine.

A, lig. 1, is a cast-iron foundation-plate, bolted with its frameworkupon a brick or stone wall, W. A and Az are cast or \\'roughtiron framesand guides. IThe twoframes are made in two halves,joining at or near thecentre of the framing, as shown withtwo lines, o o, (sce iig'. The lowerframe, A2, ifmade of cast iron, may becast to the bed-plate A. Theeccentric, C1, receives its rotating motion through the shaft C2 G2,which is coupled to the main shaft of a steam-engine with its ily-wheelattached to it. The eccentric, Q1, has one, two, or more loose rings onthe circumference, which will move with thcmotion of the eccentric whenthe heavy pressure is put upon it. It may also move on the eccentric,and remain stationary when pressing against the cross` head. Theeccentric, CL, is made either solid or bolted to the shaft C2 with one,two, or more bolts; it gives, by its rotating'motion, the action-to thecross-heads C* C", to the pressing-plungers C C, and the steel casingsor hollow plungers D6 D6 D5 DS.' The steel casings Dl Di are secured tothe'cast-iron guide l)5 D5, which is connected on'the topiby a bolt andjaw D* D* to a piston-rod, receiving its motion through thesteam-pressure upon the pistbn. By the admission of steam into thecylinder D D, one, two, three, or morestrokes can be given to the hollowpressingplungers DBD D6 D5, for the purpose of feeding thepressing-eylinder to its fullest capacity while one revolution is madewith the eccentric C1. The two cross-heads C* C* are connected with eachother by means of eight brackets, OG, and four braces, Cu C C C, havingcollars, C, and nuts, C", to keep them firmly to thecross-head'brackets. A3 A3 are the pressing-boxes, with one bracket oneach side, as shown in' fig. 2, and kept by two bolts, B1 Bl, on eachside, to the side of the upper frame A and lower frame A2. For the sakeof convenience, it may be preferable to bolt the pressing-boxes totheend of the frames A and A2, to

`the right and left, and have one or two bolts, abo-ve and below of theframes, to extend from one end to .the

otherin holding the pressing-boxes against the'side of they frames. Oneor two bolts, above and below, on each side, will strengthen at the sametime the frames very considerably. A0 Ao are the steel linings; A?l A5the perforated pressingeylinder, with its vacuum oLsteam-chamberiV V VV. The holes into the pressing-cylinder are marked 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8,-9, 10, 11. These holes are made onan increased taper towards theoutside,or their discharge. A5 As arepipes for the vapors of oil or other matterto be carried into or from the chamber. A7 A7 are covers which aresecured by screws. I may use in practice either both chambers VIV as-avacuum or steam-chamber, or one as a vacuum and the other as asteamchamber. The perforated box A5 A5 is bolted to the pressing-box A3A3 by the bolts B3. A12 A12 are the casing of a dust-peat chamber, withtwo adjusters, F* F4, to regulate the quantity of peat-dust forpressing. These adjusters, F* F4, are regulated by the levers .F (seelig. 3) attached t0 a shaft, FZ, and two spur-wheels F3 F3. F5 is aguard, holding thev lever F by a bolt. E is a pulley, which is securedto the shaft El, and is operated from'the main shaft by a belt. To theshaft E1 issecured a spur-wheel, E2, which operates another spur-wheelon another shaft to move the peat-dust feeders EE. A1 Aw are castironcasings for the peat-dust, and are so arranged that theycanbe kept undera partial or full vacuum. A16

A are two pipes, which communicate with a box or vessel co'ntainingcil,abonthalf `lled. A A9 are two `feeding-boxes, which must have anair-tight joint where the pressing-plunger D6 enters the same. Thatjoint can -be made with India-rubber or metallic packing.The'vacuum-chamber A10 and feeding-chamber A9 are bolted together at theilanges A13 A13. The feeding-boxes A9. A9 are bolted by the bolts B? onthe anges to the pressingbox A3 A3. All the joints must be madeperfectly air-tight. AlM isa suction-pipein connection with an airpump.B B B B are holding-down bolts, to secure the peat-pressing n'achine tothe brick or stone foundation W. In fig. 2, C8 C8 CS C are thegibholders of the cross-benito guide and adjust the plungers. C16 C6 CCl are set-screws for the gibs. 3 3 3 3 are keys to adjust theside-journals marked 1.

Having now fully'described the nature of my invention, what I claimasnew, and desire to secure by Ilet-l ters Patent, is as follows: e v

1. I claim the construction of the frames ofthe machine solid or in twoparts, so as to join them at or about the-centre of the shaft, and castor bolt the lower half, A, to the bed-plate, and to make the upper.frames AA and lower frames A2 Afef wrought iron,4 or make the upperalone of wrought iron, ysubstantially the same as described. y

2. I claim the lsurrounding steam, hotair, or vacuum-chambers V V, ofthe pressing-cylinder A5,- to use one asa hot-air chamber, and the otheras a vacuum-chamber, or both as a vacuum or steam-chamber for oily' orwater vapors, in combination or separately with theperforatedpressing-cylinders, substantially the same as herein setforth.

3. I, claim the combination of one, two, or more receivers, A, with thehorizontal feeders'Ef'EB, and

`vacuum and feeding-chambers A10 Aw and A9 A, the same as hereindescribed.

4. I'claim the direct application of an eccentric, with or without aloose ring on its circumference, acting directly, or with anintermediate movable or stationarysteelor composition plate upon thepressing-piangere C and C, and cross-head C* C, substantially the sameas herein described.

5., I claim the application of the cross-heads()4 C4 to operate inopposite directions, connected by four braces,

or moving independent of each other, substantially the same asherein setforth.

6. I claim the arrangement for giving an independent motion tothepressing-plnngers C and D6, by which te move either the hollow or solidlun er C, or'the ressin lu'n er with the cross-head, once twice, ormore.

P g P E P S strokes while the main eccentric makes one revolution,` forthe purpose of feeding the pressing-box with peatdust, substantially thesame'as described.

7. I claim the perforated or grooved pressing-boxes, Withtapered holes,gradually enlarged towards the outside, for -thc purpose as herein setforth.`

, rama t .4 8. I claim the Aconstruction ofthe pressing-boxes A3 Afinsuch a manner that the same are bolted from the inside or outside to theside of the frames .A and A2, or to thevbedplate, substantially the sameas described.

9. Ielaim the Yadjusting and regulating of the supply of peat-dust bymeans of adjusting the blades F* F in 4combination with the spurqvheelsFB'F" and lever F, substantially as described.

10. I claim dividing the motion of' the main eccentric, with thepressing-boxv or chamber for horizontal'or upright action, so that aportion-of the motion may be transferred through the medium of twoeccentrics or cams on the main shaft, at the outside ofthe frames, forthe purpose of saving power and receiving larger blocks, subi stantiallythe same as described.

11. I claim the combined upright or horizontal actionof the eccentric Cwithout an intermediate connectinglink or rod, operating theprcssing-plungers, substantially the same as herein set forth.

12. I claim the process of' compressing dry pulverized peat under a fullor partial vacuum, arranged in such a manner as herein set-forth.

13. I claim the process of feeding wet pulverized peat, and drying it,while passing through the pressingcylinders of the press, through itsown pressure, in pressing and drawing the water from it through themedium of an air-pump connected with the pipes A8 A8, so that the blocksare perfectly dry when discharged from the press, substantially the sameas described. y

14. I claim connecting an oi1-vessel with the vacuum-chamber ofthepress, substantially the same as herein described. Y

15. I claim, for an upright machine, in placing the main eccentric oreec'entrics on the top or bottom, between two frames, with one, two, ormore plungers, substantially the same as set forth. In testimonywhereof, I havehereunto set my hand in the presenceof two subscribingwitnesses.

GUsrAvUs `wnrssnrns ORN. I

Witnesses:

L. Wonnnn, M. MONDIRGER.

